A blog to give you first hand reports on the conditions of Swachchkar community, their issues and concerns. A campaign for complete abolition of scavenging practices and brigning forth the growing voices of change with in the community.

About Me

Learning through working. Working at the grassroots made me realise the big difference between those who claim to represent communities as well as the communities themselves. Common man is crushed between the ambitions of various individuals to lead and dominate. The dominant and high numbered communities will always dominate our discourse and the most marginalised are losing in this entire discourse. That is the reason why Mushahar remain at the marginalised and the issue of manual scavenging still not on our top agenda and to eliminate that the community has to decide its own organisations..

I am devoted to freedom of ideas and expression. I personally feel that we in the subcontinent want to dominate and control our discourse and each one of is a ultra nationalist in terms of their caste and community. Nationalism is not just national and political but it is equally in term of religion and caste. I feel each kind of nationalism is a dominant discourse which deny the dissenter a right to speak.

At the end, we all want to listen the truth suitable to us.. we have become expertised in the art of speaking truth of convenience. As long as that remain hall mark of our society and we speak to already converts, this society will remain stagnant, it will always try to control our ideas and choices. We need to oppose any such perception, ideas that want to control our mind and victimise us.

To understand India further, I feel, it is good to do foot walk, ( Padyatras) to various parts of the country. I have so far done it thrice covering nearly 1500-2000 kilometers. It is always interesting to see how people are coping their issues and what is the reason of their exploitation.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Death of Ethics

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

There has been no news from the Indira Gandhi National Centre
for Art regarding the deaths of three sanitation workers who died in the campus
on July 14th while cleaning the sewage line near to AC plant. The
families of deceased have not heard anything from the company which has Rajesh
as supervisor. The National Human Rights Commission and other government bodies
need to act on it as one of the prime witnesses of the issue is Chhotu, 30 who
was part of the team and survived. In an interaction, Chhotu and his mother
provided horrific details of the incidents and how they have been treated at
the hospital.

It was early morning at 7.30 am on that day when Chhotu along
with his friends Rajesh and others started from Trilokpuri for the ‘work’. He
was not told the nature of the work. He was informed that he would have to
clean water tank, he said. At 8.30 am they reached Indira Gandhi National
Centre for Art and the watchman at the gate took them to the AC plant side to
carry out the work.

Chhotu was perhaps the youngest and hence was worked more
than his elderly colleagues. There was no
big deal in cleaning the five pits as they did not have gas but just ‘water’. They
had cleared five pits. Bahadur, the watchman of the Centre helped them. They had pump also but that was
not used fully. Bahadur left after the five ‘holes’ were cleared. It was five
in the evening. A couple who too was working had gone out to have tea.

Chhottu felt that it was time to finish the last one too and
go. As he entered the sixth pit, there was gas inside it. He could not face it
and fell unconscious. His friends from the above were watching. So, they pulled
him up but the person who tried to save him actually died. He was Satish. Each one of them was trying to
save but actually died. Satish, Ashok and Rajesh died trying to save each other
facing the terrible gas. There was no staff of IGNCA. The couple who had gone
out for tea had returned. There was commotion as they called police at 100
number. It came fast and took all the victims to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital
where Satish, Ashok and Rajesh were declared dead while Chhotu was admitted. He
was responding to the treatment.

The death of medical
ethics

Chhotu’s parents at Trilokpuri were informed late in the
night and both of them rushed to hospital. His wife was pregnant and got
worried. His mother was in a very disturbed condition. At the Ram Manohar Lohia
hospital, they found them unwelcomed. The doctors were not interested in them.
The mother rushed here and there but finally found the boy in the ward. He was
unrecognizable as the body was completely oil and absolute black. None in the
staff could think of cleaning him or washing his dirt. In the early morning
when Chhotu came to senses, he saw his mother and asked her about his children.
‘They are all fine’, said the mother. He then inquired about Rajesh and others
and his mother said that they too were fine. His mother was worried about his
condition and hence felt that it was good not to inform him. Suddenly, he got
up and went outside the ward. He was feeling unease and uncomfortable. It was
very unfortunate and shocking that when he, returned to his bed after 10
minutes, the doctor and the nurse did not allow him. They were asked to leave.
The doctors did not even give them the papers of their treatment and what he
needs. His mother begged but the doctors at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital did not
bother to address.

Both mother sun due remained at the hospital only. Now,
Chhotu had realized that his three other colleagues were dead as the families
of them were already in the hospital. He was in deep shock but fortunately he
could tolerate all this. Despite in terrible mental and physical condition, he
helped the families of the deceased and was there with them till they had got
the bodies of the three victims.

If we see the pattern of treatment meted out to all these
victims including Chhotu, then one thing is clear that the doctors in India suffer
from prejudices and perhaps not ready to touch those who clean the human
excreta and other garbage in our cities as well as go deep into these sewage
lines, the modern day night-soil. All of them were acknowledged as ‘unknown’
and their concerns were not addressed. Their families got the dead bodies at 12
pm next day. One can understand the amount of seriousness that the doctors
showed. They were not given any report and when they asked for Post Mortem
Report, they were asked to come after 40 days. Why are the doctors denying the
patient the post mortem report?
Shockingly, the cause of death is not mentioned in the certificate
issued so far.

Some More Fact

After speaking to Chhotu, who is the witness to the event
following facts emerged and must be inquired.

The entire work was being supervised by Rajesh who is no
more. He took them and promised Rs 300/- each for cleaning. They were promised
that there was no sewage pipe but water pits at the Centre.

The other fact is coming to the notice is that Rajesh was
employed at the IGNCA by a private company who has so far not approached the
family after death. It needs to be seen as why IGNCA has not spoken on the
issue. Who is responsible for the deaths of these people?

Why has the police not filed an FIR and if yes, why the
copies of FIR not provided to the family. It needs to be seen whether the FIR
contain any case of negligence against civic authorities or IGNCA. What are the rehabilitation measures done so far? After the
privatization process, contractors have given it to subcontractors and hence no
social security for those who enter. Most of the time, it is the younger member
or older one, who are not employed or are wage labour enter into the pit just
for earning a few rupees.

Despite High Court’s order in the past, why were these people
not informed about the last pit which was not really of ‘water’ but contained ‘oil’
which was really dangerous and contained gas. Chhotu informed us that till the
five pits were covered, the watchman Bahadur was with them but when they opened
the last pit, very suspiciously Bahadur left that time. The question is whether
Bahadur had known what contained in that pit and if yes then why did he not
inform them. They were clearly told that unless they clear each of these pits,
no payment would be made to them.

Defied death

Chhotu defied death. He is a daily wage worker. He parents are
sweepers at different places. His mother works in a local hospital and is too
concerned about him as he is the only son. Fortunately, they have their own
house unlike other colleagues who died. Chhotu’s mother clearly does not want
him to do this work. ‘I would have died
if anything had happened to him’. She is more than happy. Just next day after
Chhotu came back from this danger zone, his wife delivered a baby girl and now
his mother says,’ the daughter has brought her father back, so she is a special
child. He is now father of four children and one shudder to think the event
which happened in his life. His daughter
was born one day after this horrific incident had happened. So for mother, this
daughter has brought her father back.

Chhotu’s story is of deprivation, denial and rejection. It is
a social violence brutally legalized by the state apparatus which has failed to
provide protection to Dalits all over the country. The state which claims to
work on the secular principles of its constitution has not been able to
construct a secular bureaucracy which treats all of its citizens without any
preconceived notions.

There are serious questions from this incident and I am sure
it is not the last despite our wishes because neither the people nor the civic
authorities have any civic sense here. They go scot free because the power
elite have not taken these issues seriously. There are provisions for
protection and punishment for violating yet shamelessly nothing moves. Can the
NDMC, MCD, Delhi government or Ministry of Social Justice keep quiet on the
issue since the entire sanitation work is now ‘privatised’. The problem is that
things remain the same. The death occurs in the heart of Delhi and at the
premium institution of India. It has shown the callousness of our police which
did not show any concern of the people. We don’t even know what they are doing as
far as this case was concern. The story of RML doctors is well known who did
not even bother to give full treatment to Chhotu. He is still going to the
doctor at the Lal Bahadur hospital in East Delhi. He is still not well and
faint but the authorities have no botheration. One does not know whether they
have any shame now even so many days of the death of three ‘murders’ which has
been committed to keep our city safe. Where are the masks, gloves and machines
meant for this work? We hear so much of mechanization process and yet we send
people from a particular community to die in these gas chambers without proper
protection measures or medical insurance. Manual scavenging is prohibited legally and on
papers and in the heart of our capital city, the community which has been compelled
to do this work is dying daily without any dignified response to their issues
including rehabilitation.

A challenge to human
values and constitution

The deaths in sewage system and subsequent treatment given to
those who died and those who continue to suffer doing this inhuman work need to
be properly investigated. The role of each agency must be clearly mentioned.
Doctors and other medical staff, Delhi Jal Board, New Delhi Municipal
Corporation or Municipal Corporation of Delhi, private contractors should not
be allowed to go unquestioned. Let there be heavy penalties on them. Let them
answer for the deaths of all these people and maltreatment to them. Will the
National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Scheduled Caste
wake up? They take up suo-motto actions which are published in newspapers but
what happens to things which are not taken up by the media seriously? It is wakeup
call and time for a decisive battle against all form of manual scavenging has come which will not
disappear just with mechanization process but will need a complete overhauling
of our social value system as well as strict implementation of anti-discriminatory
laws including SC-ST prevention of atrocities act. In the meantime, we wish the
authorities to answer to the families of the victims as what is their planning for
them. Who is responsible for these deaths and what is being done to the
families of these people who languish in humiliation and uncertainty of life.
Each death in the sewage line or toilets is an upfront to our constitution as
it is the very negation of society based on equity, liberty and fraternity as
envisaged by Baba Saheb Dr Ambedkar.

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